Dendrosenecio keniensis


Dendrosenecio keniensis is one of the giant groundsels endemic the higher altitudes of Mount Kenya. It is in the family Asteraceae and the genus Dendrosenecio. Dendrosenecio keniodendron occurs the upper alpine zone of Mount Kenya and D. keniensis in the wetter areas of the lower alpine or the moorlands.

Description

;Leaves and stems: Prostrate trunks of soft brittle wood, with trunk to in diameter; which branch repeatedly at or below ground level, forming a large prostrate clone. The branches each support a great cabbage-like, densely packed leaf-rosettes of 30–40 leaves; each branch cloaked with older, dead foliage. Branches produced near ground-level are capable of rooting that supports a "creeping" horizontal growth-form. The leaves are oblong and narrow slightly where they attach to the rosette; they can be up to long and wide. The leaves are capable of secreting limited quantities of a mucilaginous fluid containing polysaccharides. The upper leaf surface has a hair cushion which is also often coated with dried mucilage. The lower surface is covered densely with a thick, white felty covering of lantate hairs. Growth rates are very slow.
;Flowers: Tall terminal spikes of groundsel flowers arise from each of the great cabbage-like rosette of leaves, each spike or inflorescence narrowly conical up to tall and in diameter. The flower heads are upright each consisting of 12 to 16 bright yellow ray florets up to long and 60-80 disc florets. Each leaf rosette dies after flowering, but the plant lives on because its highly branched growth form consists of multiple rosettes.

Distribution

Dendrosenecio keniensis makes its home mostly in the lower alpine or moorland zone located at altitudes of to that can be characterized by high soil moisture, a thick humus layer, similar terrain and not a lot of different species present. The upper alpine zone, to, is more topographically diverse, and contains a more varied flora, including the giant rosette plants Lobelia telekii and L. keniensis, Senecio keniodendron and Carduus spp.. S. keniensis can be found in both the lower and upper alpine zone,
although it is less common above where it can regularly hybridise with S. keniodendron.

Name confusion

Dendrosenecio keniensis has a history which includes some confusion between it and other species from other genus which belongs to a different family. There was a mix-up in some of the materials that were collected that united the leaf of Lobelia gregoriana with the inflorescence of Dendrosenecio keniensis.
At that time, Dendrosenecio keniensis was rejected as a confused name "nomen confusum" based on the muddled samples from which made it impossible to select a single specimen,
but that practice is no longer permitted and the replacement name S. brassica is superfluous and other names that were based on this basionym are similarly illogical and incorrectly deduced. Examples: Fries and Fries cited the confused material for S. brassica; Hedberg selected a single specimen from among the syntypes that associated S. brassica with Fries & Fries.

Hybrid

  • Senecio keniensis Baker subsp. keniensis x S. keniodendron R.E.Fr. & T.C.E.Fr. ex Hell.